Abstract
The paper aims to understand the treatment seeking behavior and the experiences of men with male factor infertility. A cross-sectional study was conducted at consented hospitals/infertility centers in Mumbai, India in purview of the fact that men are not considered as important as a part of infertility treatment as women. An infertile man is defined here as one who is diagnosed with primary or secondary infertility, undergoing infertility treatment, irrespective of the fertility status of his wife. Primary data of 150 men undergoing infertility treatment from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds was collected through semi-structured interviews. The initial effect of the infertility status led the men to feel depressed, guilty, shocked, and isolated. A large proportion of the respondents never discussed the problem with anyone except their wives. More than one third of the respondents consulted with Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) practitioners. Changes of doctors or clinics were more attributed to unsuccessful treatment cycles and success rate of other clinics than the referral by doctors. Destiny, bad luck, lifestyle, medical reasons, and late marriage are found as perceived causes of male infertility. Age above 40, younger age at marriage, marriage duration for 6 and more years, secondary infertility, self-employment, and higher income have significant association with longer time gap between marriage and initiation of infertility treatment. Based on study findings, we propose Belief and Practice theory where we elaborate the progression in treatment for male infertility. Men should be given due consideration in infertility treatment. They must be taken into consideration at an early stage of fertility evaluation due to the fact that minor problems of male infertility can be cured with modest medication. Proper Information Education and Communication (IEC) is essential for creating awareness in society on male infertility. Better counseling services during treatment and standardization of cost can help infertile men to manage treatment-related stress. Since infertility treatment is a time-consuming and exhaustive process, considering the timing for patient's income generating work, evening out patient department, and comprehensive knowledge dissemination at health centers can be improve male factor infertility treatment.
Highlights
Infertility is a significant global health problem
Research on male infertility treatment seeking is rare for two reasons: first, they are not considered as a primary client of infertility in spite of the evidence that there is an varied range of reasons for childlessness among men (Chattopadhyay and Mukherjee, 2015), and second, men themselves are apprehensive in talking about their infertility status
All three centers provided a complete range of infertility treatments including intrauterine insemination (IUI) with partner/donor sperm, surgery, and intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
Summary
Infertility is a significant global health problem. One in six couples worldwide is affected by infertility. Research on male infertility treatment seeking is rare for two reasons: first, they are not considered as a primary client of infertility in spite of the evidence that there is an varied range of reasons for childlessness among men (Chattopadhyay and Mukherjee, 2015), and second, men themselves are apprehensive in talking about their infertility status. Pujari and Unisa (2014) in their study on childlessness in Andhra Pradesh, India, stated that most people acknowledge the role of female as well as the male factor in infertility but on a deeper mental make up it is implicitly a women’s problem. Male infertility is often overlooked by doctors and the couple’s infertility is most often perceived as a female health issue, when the male partner may be having a male-specific problem (Chattopadhyay and Mukherjee, 2015). 35–39 40–49 Hindu® Others OBC/SC/ST® Others Nuclear® Joint
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